Indianapolis Business Journal. March 14, 2024.
Editorial: Gubernatorial debates, forums give insight into Indiana issues
It was just a few weeks ago that we used this space to call on the candidates for governor to focus more on the issues impacting state government (like economic development, literacy and workforce development) and less about federal issues (like immigration, China and Donald Trump).
Since then, we’ve seen a bit more discussion about issues facing Hoosiers. But if you rely on ads or emails from candidates, you’re not going to get a good read on some of the key issues.
Fortunately, though, the major candidates in the Republican primary have agreed to appear together in multiple forums that promise more focus on Indiana issues.
Already, IBJ has profiled each of the top five candidates in the GOP primary—U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, former Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden and former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill. You can find those stories at IBJ.com.
In addition, we asked those candidates to write columns in IBJ’s March issue of Forefront (IBJ.com/Forefront) answering the question: What does the state need to do to boost Indiana’s per capita income, which continues to lag the nation’s?
Braun said reducing the cost of health care is a top priority. Chambers talked about his efforts to boost entrepreneurship and invest in quality-of-life projects. Crouch detailed her hopes for eliminating the state income tax. Doden described his Indiana Main Street Initiative, which would focus state money on helping small towns. And Hill wrote about his plans to increase the state’s automatic taxpayer refund and eliminate the income tax for retirees. The columns are informative reads focused on Indiana.
But we urge voters to tune in to some upcoming debates and forums to see the candidates answer an even broader set of questions. Here are some of those options:
◗ The National Federation of Independent Business, Indiana Builders Association and Americans for Prosperity of Indiana are hosting a gubernatorial candidate forum Tuesday in Fishers. The five main GOP candidates plus Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater are participating. IBJ Media’s Gerry Dick, host of Inside INdiana Business, is moderating. The forum is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Wellington Fishers Banquet & Conference Center, 9775 North by Northeast Blvd.
◗ Then on March 26, Braun, Chambers, Crouch and Doden are scheduled to participate in a debate hosted by WXIN-TV Channel 59 and WTTV-TV Channel 4. The 7 p.m. event will be broadcast live on Nexstar affiliates throughout the state.
◗ WISH-TV Channel 8 is hosting a debate with all five Republican candidates at 6:30 p.m. March 27 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center in downtown Indianapolis. The debate will air live on WISH-TV and the WISH-TV Statewide TV News Network as well as stream live on WISHTV.com and the WISH-TV app.
◗ And the Indiana Debate Commission has a debate set for April 23, just a couple of weeks before the May 7 primary election. That 90-minute event starts at 7 p.m. at Hine Hall Auditorium on the IUPUI campus.
Go to IndianaDebateCommission.com to submit a question.
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Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. March 15, 2024.
Editorial: 2023 legislative session wasn’t as quiet as promised
Last Novem-ber, House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said they would steer away from large spending concerns and tweak existing laws rather than introduce new concepts during the 2024 legislative session.
Instead, after promising a session of measured change, lawmakers considered contentious bills and tabled others. They passed some bills with unanimous or near-total support, while others were pushed through the General Assembly by the Republicans who hold a supermajority in both chambers.
“It was more impactful than some people might have thought going into it, since it was a short session,” Fort Wayne Republican Liz Brown told The Journal Gazette. “But, obviously, being a non-budget year, I think we fulfilled a promise of being really careful not to do anything that would affect the budget until next year.”
Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed 172 bills into law as of Friday morning. Once bills reach his desk, he has seven days either to sign or veto them. If no action is taken, the bill automatically becomes law.
Here’s a look at a few of the best and worst bills passed this legislative session, and some toss-ups: proposals that had both good and bad elements to them.
Thumb’s up Safe baby courts
In 2021, more than 14,600 Hoosier children were in foster care, and nearly a third were 3 years old or younger. Children in foster care are at risk for poor developmental outcomes, studies show, and those risks are heightened for the youngest.
Columbus Republican Ryan Lauer’s House Bill 1101 adds a “safe baby court” for children 3 and younger receiving Child in Need of Services assistance. Holcomb signed it into law March 11, the same day he received it.
“Every year, the state publishes a child fatality report due to abuse and neglect,” Lauer told The Journal Gazette last month. “And every year the vast majority of children deaths due to abuse and neglect are in the 0- to 5-year-old range. They are the most vulnerable population in our society.”
Indeed, the annual Report of Child Abuse & Neglect Fatalities in Indiana, published in December, reported 61 children died in 2022 as a result of abuse and neglect. The majority, 52 children, were 5 years old or younger.
Safe baby courts have been around for years. According to Zero to Three, which helps states implement safe baby courts, the recidivist maltreatment rate among children in safe baby court was 0.7% within a year, compared with the national average of 9.1%.
Furthermore, children and families participating in safe baby courts had significantly higher reunification rates compared with a national sample, 43.7% vs. 25.6%. The median time until reintegration was between nine and 10 months, six to eight months sooner than children not in safe baby courts.
Given Allen County’s national reputation for innovative justice programs, a safe baby court would be an ideal fit for Allen County Superior Court. It should provide outcomes all Hoosiers want for our most vulnerable population.
Child-care access
Valparaiso Republican Ed Charbonneau’s multipronged proposal to make child care more accessible and affordable for Hoosier families was a priority bill for Senate Republicans. It proved to be popular with Democrats as well, passing the House on a 98-1 vote and the Senate, 45-2.
Senate Bill 2, signed by the governor Wednesday, rolls out new policies to assist more people in becoming child care workers and cuts some regulations that drive up the cost of operating a child care facility.
“Child care is an infrastructure issue facing Indiana,” Charbonneau told The Journal Gazette in August before convening the first study committee hearing on the topic. “It’s affecting every aspect of our economy and the quality of life for individuals.”
SB 2 allows more children of child care workers to qualify automatically for assistance from On My Way Pre-K and the Child Care and Development Fund. The move is intended to encourage more parents to become child care workers themselves by reducing that financial burden.
The legislation also should improve Indiana’s child care data, as SB 2 requires the Family and Social Services Administration to establish a dashboard on its website that includes monthly updates on the number of child care subsidies available, the average copay required under each subsidy and the number of children on a waitlist for each subsidy.
SB 2 bill should help increase child care access and affordability, and assist more Hoosiers who want to enter the workforce as child care providers while, at the same time, making sure their families have child care.
State Disaster Relief Fund
It’s uncommon for a bill to win unanimous support during floor votes in the House and Senate, but Senate Bill 190’s significant and needed improvements to the State Disaster Relief Fund won universal support from Republicans and Democrats.
The proposal, authored by Indianapolis Republican Cyndi Carrasco and signed by Holcomb on Wednesday, makes more money accessible and more easily available to Hoosier households after catastrophic events such as floods and tornadoes, while allowing governments to tap the fund for mitigation projects that could limit damages before events occur.
SB 190 simplifies the formula used to calculate how much money communities can receive from the state disaster fund, and increases the maximum amount of assistance to households. Individuals would receive up to $25,000 to compensate for damages not otherwise covered by private insurance, a 150% increase from the previous cap of $10,000.
“We need to take care of communities when disaster strikes,” Fort Wayne Democrat and House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta told The Journal Gazette. “I’m glad we were able to support this common-sense bill to make it easier for communities and households to apply for disaster relief funds.”
Perhaps more consequential, the bill makes disaster relief funding available to local governments for mitigation projects that could limit damage and injury in case of a natural disaster. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $1 spent on mitigation saves $6 in disaster recovery costs.
Thumb’s down Third-grade retention
Third-grade reading proficiency has declined for a decade in Indiana, well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2012, the number of students who are not able to read at grade level by the end of third grade has more than doubled.
Of the nearly14,000 students statewide who did not pass IREAD-3 last year, about 6,000 received what the state terms a “good cause exemption” and started fourth grade in the fall.
Senate Bill 1, which passed the Senate on 29-16 vote and the House, 68-28, will likely result in the retention of thousands more third-graders each year, and will cost school systems more money to provide that additional year of instruction. Holcomb signed it into law March 11.
Critics say if more students are held back, class sizes could become unmanageable and schools won’t have the staff or resources to teach effectively.
“We need to address literacy — full stop,” GiaQuinta said. “But I couldn’t stomach the idea of saddling our schools with an unfunded summer school mandate, holding kids back without their parents’ input, and the teacher workload problems that will result from Senate Bill 1.”
In 2023, lawmakers passed historic investments in literacy totaling more than $170 million. Those investments include increased school-level science-of-reading instructional coaching and support for educators through the Indiana Literacy Cadre; drawing the Indiana Learning Lab from 6,000 users in 2021 to more than 55,000 in 2023; and awarding nearly $15 million in competitive science-of-reading grants to 72 school districts.
Legislators should have waited to weigh the results of those expenditures before demanding more Hoosier third-graders be retained.
Youth employment
With the adoption of Senate Bill 146 and House Bill 1093, Indiana joins several other states in loosening laws that guard against the exploitation of working minors.
SB 146 allows 18-year-olds to serve alcohol, as long as they are supervised by someone older than 21. It passed the Senate on a 31-13 vote and the House, 81-10.
HB 1093 strikes restrictions on the hours teenage employees can work. It also removes agriculture as a “hazardous occupation,” allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to work in that sector. Prior statute allowed young adults to work only on their family’s property. Holcomb signed both SB 146 and HB 1093.
“House Democrats set out this session to strengthen Indiana’s labor laws — not put kids in dangerous work conditions,” GiaQuinta said. “How will expanding work hours for children help with chronic absenteeism or literacy issues?”
Republican-led states have deregulated child labor laws for more than a decade, and the U.S. Department of Labor has uncovered disturbing violations in their wake.
In February 2023, the labor department issued findings from an investigation of Packers Sanitation Services Inc. for illegally employing more than 100 children between the ages of 13 and 17 at 13 meatpacking facilities.
Children were working illegally on overnight shifts cleaning saws and other dangerous equipment. At least three suffered injuries, including burns from cleaning chemicals.
States play an essential role in ensuring children who work can do so in safe, age-appropriate conditions that won’t jeopardize their long-term health, development or education. With adoption of SB 146 and HB 1093, Indiana is ceding some of that responsibility to employers, and the result could be more teens working long hours in hazardous conditions.
Wetlands protections
Republican lawmakers fast-tracked and adopted a quarrelsome bill that will further strip protections on some Indiana wetlands after Holcomb gave it his signature in February.
Since 2022, Indiana has grouped wetlands into three tiers. Only the highest-ranked Class III wetlands receive full protections in Indiana. Class II wetlands have fewer protections, and Class I wetlands have none.
House Bill 1383 shifts some Class III wetlands to Class II. According to the Hoosier Environmental Council, since the new classification system took effect, 75% of the wetland acres impacted by construction have been lost, with no mitigation or replacement.
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that removed wetlands not directly connected to a stream or lake from federal protection. Before the court’s ruling, said the Hoosier Environmental Council’s Indra Frank, 80% of Hoosier wetlands had federal protection; state regulations covered some of the remaining 20%. Frank told The Journal Gazette in June those federally protected could shrink to 20% or less.
A state task force in November 2022 emphasized the impact wetland reductions can have on water quality, as well as control of flooding “and the loss of agricultural income, damage to infrastructure, and significant economic hardship.”
Wetlands are a vital part of the state’s water system. They help soak up excess stormwater and reduce floodwater. As the state task force put it: “Indiana is at a point where the cumulative loss of wetlands is having a measurable negative impact on residents.”
Under HB 1383, that negative impact grows.
Toss-ups Defining
antisemitism
After multiple versions and weeks of debate, lawmakers finally found compromise in a bill defining antisemitism in state education code.
House Bill 1002, meant to address antisemitism on college campuses, stalled last month amid disagreement among legislators. The final version, passed by both the House and Senate, made concessions in language opposed by critics of the state of Israel.
The House passed HB 1002 two months ago after its Republican leaders listed it among their five priorities for the 2024 session. In contention was a definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, part of which references examples of antisemitism members of Indiana’s Jewish community said were necessary to codify in state law.
In the session’s final hours, a compromise on the final version of the bill was reached: Include the alliance’s core definition of antisemitism, but not specifically reference the examples.
HB 1002, authored by Fishers Republican Chris Jeter, ultimately passed unanimously in the House, and with only one opposing vote in the Senate from Fort Wayne’s Brown.
“In terms of public policy, I have no problem at all. I don’t think anyone should be discriminated against,” Brown told The Journal Gazette Thursday. “My concern was how they were going to enforce the rhetorical manifestations (of antisemitism).”
Physical displays of antisemitism are much more apparent and easier to prove than use of prejudicial language. Caryl Auslander, speaking on behalf of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said the organization will work with state agencies and education institutions “to ensure the proper interpretation and implementation of the IHRA definition.”
HB 1002 is not a needed bill. Indiana law already bans discrimination on the basis of race and “creed,” meaning religion.
Holcomb questioned the bill Thursday after signing a bill legalizing happy hour and carry-out alcohol sales.
“I want to make sure there’s no ambiguity whatsoever in what statement Indiana makes to not only our own citizens first and foremost, but to the rest of the world,” he said.
Considering both the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council and the Indiana Muslim Advocacy Network issued statements this month in support of HB 1002, lawmakers appear to have stumbled upon an enhancement to state education code with the definition of antisemitism.
Defining PFAS
A House bill that would’ve excluded from regulation thousands of chemicals otherwise established as among some 15,000 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) fortunately died in the Senate Committee on Environmental Affairs.
Studies have linked PFAS to prostate, kidney and testicular cancers; diabetes; decreased fertility; and low birth rates. House Bill 1399, authored by Jasper Republican Shane Lindauer, would’ve removed thousands of such chemicals from Indiana’s definition of PFAS.
Exposure to these substances is likely caused by consuming contaminated water or food, using products made with the chemicals, or breathing contaminated air, according to the National Institute of Environmental Science.
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to protect communities from PFAS. Considering 12 states have enacted phase-outs of PFAS in food packaging and eight have adopted restrictions on PFAS in carpets and rugs, House Bill 1399 would have made Indiana an outlier in protecting against the use and risks of PFAS.
There’s already a well-established scientific definition for the family of PFAS chemicals. Indiana doesn’t need a new one permitting the use of additional chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases.
Home-rule restrictions
The concept of “home rule” permits local communities to provide for their own government and to exercise all powers not prohibited by state law or the state or federal constitutions.
Historically, home-rule authority in Indiana has had limits, and two bills introduced this session sought more restrictions on governance in two Hoosier cities.
Senate Bill 52, authored by Indianapolis Republican Aaron Freeman, proposed banning dedicated IndyGo bus lanes in Indianapolis for a year, which would have derailed plans to add a Blue Line bus lane to Washington Street. Indianapolis voters already had approved a plan for a bus lane on Washington, a major east-west thoroughfare.
SB 52 died after House Speaker Todd Huston said he reached an agreement with city and IndyGo officials to drop the bill in exchange for IndyGo prioritizing the maintenance of two lanes of traffic flow in each direction on Washington Street.
House Bill 1235, however, passed the House 65-26 and the Senate on a 33-15 vote. It bans communities from suing firearm manufacturers, retailers or trade groups. Consequently, it retroactively nulls a 25-year-old lawsuit between the city of Gary and gun manufacturers, just as the case is proceeding into discovery. It merits Holcomb’s veto.
“The precedent set by House Bill 1235 is a dangerous one,” GiaQuinta said. “Functionally, it prevents anyone aside from the state of Indiana from bringing forward a lawsuit against gun dealers or manufacturers, effectively shielding them from any consequences.”
In 1980 and ’81, the General Assembly rewrote and recodified many state laws on local governments. The new laws, gathered under Title 36 of Indiana Code, included a home-rule statement of the relationship between state power and local government autonomy.
Despite the home-rule declaration, lawmakers continue to author bills such as SB 52 and HB 1235.
In the 2025 legislative session, a discussion and recommitment to the home-rule concept would be welcomed by city and county leaders across the state.
A ‘measured’ session?
Was the 2024 Indiana legislative session quieter than in previous years, as Republican leaders promised? Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor doesn’t think so.
“We were all kind of shocked,” he told the Indiana Capital Chronicle of some Republican bills.
Lawmakers killed several contentious bills, such as further restrictions on abortions, bans on certain funding for the procedure and replacing the term “gender” in state law with “biological sex.”
But among the first measures this year to be signed by Holcomb were laws that invalidate 21 local ordinances limiting pet sales and further strip protections on more Indiana wetlands.
Senate President Pro Tem Bray predicts a “pretty monumental” session in 2025. Expected proposals include overhauls of the state’s tax system, road funding formula and School Choice grants. And bills that would change Indiana’s definition of toxic PFAS chemicals or allow an estimated 700 staff members of state officeholders to carry a gun in the Statehouse and capital complex could be reintroduced.
The 2025 session looks to be more contentious, with large spending concerns grabbing headlines and the attention of Hoosier taxpayers.
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